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News, information and more from the Sheridan Libraries of Johns Hopkins UniversityTue, 31 Mar 2015 12:00:42 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.9.2Image Is Everything: ARTstor Can Help Illustrate Your Point!http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/03/image-is-everything-artstor-can-help-illustrate-your-point/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/03/image-is-everything-artstor-can-help-illustrate-your-point/#commentsTue, 17 Mar 2015 12:00:46 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=458Need a specific image for your term paper? Want to explore a topic in a visual way? Try ARTstor, a research database containing over one million images of art and cultural objects. The collection, which the Libraries subscribe to, documents artistic … Continue reading →
]]>Need a specific image for your term paper? Want to explore a topic in a visual way? Try ARTstor, a research database containing over one million images of art and cultural objects.

The collection, which the Libraries subscribe to, documents artistic traditions across all times and cultures and covers architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design as well as many other forms of visual and material culture. Educators, scholars, and students use ARTstor in a wide variety of disciplines -- not only art, but in fields as diverse as anthropology, history, literature, religion, sociology, Classical antiquity, music, and Medieval and Renaissance studies.

Images from ARTstor may not be used for any commercial purpose, but may be used liberally to support your studies -- for papers, presentations, or just as a means to research a topic. Also, if you're publishing an academic book or article, ARTstor has many useful images included in its Images for Academic Publishing (IAP) program; these may be used freely in publications.

But be careful: just as over-salting ruins the pot, use such rhetorical spice sparingly. Like the name-dropping boor, too many aphorisms easily annoy. Know your audience and make sure the aphorism is -- like pearls at a wedding reception, like cutoffs at the Dylan show, like boxed wine at the Reading -- perfectly appropriate.

]]>http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/03/aphorisms-add-spice/feed/0Print on Demand Springer Bookshttp://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/print-on-demand-springer-books/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/print-on-demand-springer-books/#commentsThu, 22 Jan 2015 12:00:21 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=113572The JHU Libraries purchase new books from Springer, a large STEM publisher, as ebooks. We’ve been doing this for about 4 years now, so there are thousands of them in Catalyst. If you’d like to purchase hard copy of one of … Continue reading →
]]>The JHU Libraries purchase new books from Springer, a large STEM publisher, as ebooks. We've been doing this for about 4 years now, so there are thousands of them in Catalyst. If you'd like to purchase hard copy of one of these titles for your personal collection, that is now an option.

If extra material was added online, that will not be part of your book.

The books are good quality; I bought one last year because it was the textbook for one of my daughter's classes. When you're at the Springer site, look for the 'mycopy' image below the book cover; that will let you order the book.

If you don't want a print book, don't worry! Springer is great about their ebooks! You can download the entire book with one click. They also let you download a chapter at a time.

Snow Crashis credited by some to be the model for Second Life, introduced in 2003, where users' avatars can create their own islands or buildings or whatever else, and interact with everything and everybody. (There are plenty of other virtual worlds, too, and yes, there's a journal about them).

Ready Player One (2011) -- Our world is a broken-down, overpopulated mess, but if you have a computer, you can go to OASIS, a fantastic virtual existence. Now the genius billionaire who created OASIS is dead, and if you can solve the puzzles that he left, it can all be yours. Warning!! This is going to become a movie so read it as soon as you can! Get the book through our new Borrow Direct service.)

Which virtual world (in any medium) would you choose to move into and become a citizen?

]]>http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/virtual-reality-virtual-worlds/feed/2Sci Fi News – New Books and Movieshttp://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/sci-fi-news-new-books-and-movies/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/sci-fi-news-new-books-and-movies/#commentsWed, 07 Jan 2015 12:00:38 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=113614It’s so important to keep up on the science fiction news, especially when you’ve made it to Winter Break. William Gibson, the author of Pattern Recognition and The Difference Engine, has a new book out entitled The Peripheral. It involves … Continue reading →
]]>It's so important to keep up on the science fiction news, especially when you've made it to Winter Break.

Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel), written this year and short-listed for the 2014 National Book Award, is a dystopia set after a pandemic. Twenty years after the Georgian Flu wipes out most of humanity, a troupe of actors and musicians travels what remains of America, giving shows and surviving.

And speaking of pandemics, you may already have heard that Stephen King’s The Stand, written in 1978, will be divided into four movies. The book has about 823 pages, which comes to about 205 pages per movie -- this is a risk, but certainly better than stretching the 317-page The Hobbit into three (not very good, IMHO) movies, at 105 pages per movie.

Okay, this has nothing to do with science fiction but it does involve libraries and how awesome they are: treat yourself to the hilarious video of the Nashville Public Library staff singing to All About That Bass.

]]>http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/sci-fi-news-new-books-and-movies/feed/1Library Tourismhttp://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/library-tourism/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/library-tourism/#commentsTue, 06 Jan 2015 12:00:58 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=11311At some point, we all travel and explore new places. While you’re globe-trotting, don’t forget to visit libraries! Seriously, some libraries are tourist attractions and well-worth a visit. Even the New York Times has recognized this insider’s tip! You could … Continue reading →
]]>At some point, we all travel and explore new places. While you're globe-trotting, don't forget to visit libraries! Seriously, some libraries are tourist attractions and well-worth a visit. Even the New York Times has recognized this insider's tip!

Sure, all these libraries have great websites, and their catalogs are online. But it's not just about the books (although they have fantastic collections). Experience the space, the architecture, the exhibits, and, well, the great gift shops!

]]>http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2015/01/library-tourism/feed/0Fairy Tales for Christmas Holidayshttp://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/fairy-tales-for-christmas-holidays/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/fairy-tales-for-christmas-holidays/#commentsThu, 18 Dec 2014 12:00:55 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=7899As a young girl growing up in Indonesia, I remember that Christmas was one of my most favorite times of the year. My parents bought us a small Christmas tree that my siblings and I decorated. Every evening, during the … Continue reading →
]]>As a young girl growing up in Indonesia, I remember that Christmas was one of my most favorite times of the year. My parents bought us a small Christmas tree that my siblings and I decorated. Every evening, during the month of December, my mother would read to us fairy tales from the story books that we borrowed from our school and local libraries. After sunset, we would light small candles in our living room and turn on the Christmas lights on the decorated tree to set a magical ambience for the fairy tales. Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm were among the authors whose works we read the most.

]]>http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/fairy-tales-for-christmas-holidays/feed/4Season’s Readings, Guilty Pleasures (and Gift Ideas)http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/seasons-readings-and-gift-ideas/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/seasons-readings-and-gift-ideas/#commentsTue, 16 Dec 2014 12:00:32 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=13947Why do I love these lists so much? Every December, I look forward to the various year-end lists of best books put out by newspapers and other periodicals. True, they are a great place to find something to read, and … Continue reading →
]]>Why do I love these lists so much? Every December, I look forward to the various year-end lists of best books put out by newspapers and other periodicals. True, they are a great place to find something to read, and to get gift ideas for that difficult person on your list. But there's something else that makes them irresistible to me. Maybe it's just that I love checking off items on a list, and seeing books I've read over the past year appear on the lists makes me feel like a schoolgirl again, getting invisible brownie points from an invisible teacher.

Here's an unusual twist: the New York Times this year asked writers what was the best book they read, and it could be from ANY time period. Much harder though to check off books from this list!

Peruse all these lists to see what you might want to read, now that all those papers are (almost?) finished, and what you might buy for your Mom or brother, your roommate or best friend, for Christmas or Hannukah or whatever end-of-the-year festival you celebrate. Festivus anyone?

Okay, I can't resist with such a captive audience. The best book I read in 2014? (Not FROM 2014 mind you). Has to be Strunk and White's (and Kalman's) Elements of Style. Read, or re-read, this one and you'll find yourself reading everything else in a new light!

]]>http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/seasons-readings-and-gift-ideas/feed/2Let there be Light!http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/let-there-be-light/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/let-there-be-light/#commentsThu, 11 Dec 2014 12:00:34 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=13753As our daylight hours dwindle, I am always reminded of Dylan Thomas. Not because he wrote “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” but because of his poem “Do not go gentle into that good night.” Thomas of course was writing of … Continue reading →
]]>As our daylight hours dwindle, I am always reminded of Dylan Thomas. Not because he wrote "A Child's Christmas in Wales," but because of his poem "Do not go gentle into that good night." Thomas of course was writing of a much more permanent darkness, not the perennial shrinking of the day's sunlit hours, but still, I always "rage, rage, against the dying of the light" at this time of year.

The Winter Solstice, which occurs on December 21 this year, is the shortest day of the year. The good news is, days will very slowly get longer and longer, until the Summer Solstice in June. But if you can't wait that long to bask in bright light, walk, bike, or drive over to the Hampden neighborhood for one of Baltimore's weirdest traditions: Miracle on 34th Street.

Now in its 64th year, this block-long display of lights, moving figures and sculpture is definitely a one-of-a-kind holiday experience. Some call it "gaudy, ugly", and some call it "awesome, beautiful". Either way, go see it and decide for yourself. It's part of the Hopkins experience!

]]>http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/let-there-be-light/feed/0Snowflakes keep falling on my head…http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/snowflakes-keep-falling-on-my-head/
http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/2014/12/snowflakes-keep-falling-on-my-head/#commentsTue, 09 Dec 2014 12:00:56 +0000http://blogs.library.jhu.edu/wordpress/?p=45051While I know those are not quite the lyrics for that song, I can’t help but want to twist the words around slightly this time of year, particularly when the sky is gray and hats, gloves, and wooly socks are … Continue reading →
]]>While I know those are not quite the lyrics for that song, I can't help but want to twist the words around slightly this time of year, particularly when the sky is gray and hats, gloves, and wooly socks are necessary. Even with the rigor of the semester ending, it is hard not to be on the lookout for that first, exciting snowflake of the season. However, that simple, beautiful, delicate little snowflake is actually quite a spectacular bit of science.

Snowflakes have fascinated scientists for a long time. In 1611, Johannes Kepler wrote, "Now Socrates has to say how far a flea can jump. Our question is, why snowflakes in their first falling, before they are entangled in larger plumes, always fall with six corners and with six rods, tufted like feathers." To read more of Kepler's pondering on snowflakes check out his Vom sechseckigen Schnee: Strena seu de Nive sexangula, or, if your German is not up to par, you might enjoy the very short but page turning 1966 English translation.

Snowflakes start as supercooled cloud droplets. Those droplets freeze and as they move through different humidity and temperatures they develop their unique shapes. Most snowflakes exhibit a six-fold radial symmetry, with each arm of the crystal structure growing separately. Most snowflakes are not perfectly symmetrical because of the number of variables that change as they make their way through the atmosphere.

Probably one of the most well-known snowflake researchers in the U.S. was Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley. Bentley photographed thousands of individual snowflakes and was the man to declare that no two snowflakes were the same. Check out the beautiful pictures of snowflakes in the classic book Snow Crystals. To read more about Bentley, his biography by Duncan Blancard provides insight into Bentley's singular passion for snowflakes.

Inspired by Bentley, Ukichiro Nakaya, a Japanese physicist and glaciologist called snowflakes "letters sent from heaven." He went on to study snow crystals and produced over 3,000 photomicrographs by which he established a classification of natural snow crystals. Snowflakes and snow crystal formation continue to be an active field of study. To learn about the latest research do a search in General Science database for full text articles on snowflakes or search the library catalog.

Snowflakes are also a traditional symbol for winter and wintery conditions. I know every winter I always watch White Christmas and sing along with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen as they extoll the virtues of snow. However, as winter wears on keep in mind the words of native Baltimore singer, Frank Zappa, "...watch out where the huskies go and don't you eat that yellow snow."